Cindy Cluett, Author at Blueberry

Our Facilities are Open for In-Person Research

June 24, 2020March 30, 2022Cindy Cluett

We are pleased to share that our Milwaukee, Philadelphia and New York facilities are open for in-person research, as are many of our trusted facility partners.

As we reopen and with the goal of exercising extreme caution for the health and well-being of our clients, respondents and staff, we are taking extensive health and safety measures, including but not limited to

– Health screenings and personal protective equipment for all people on site

– Reconfigured spaces to maintain social distancing guidelines of 6’

– Safety and cleaning procedures

– Only essential staff on site

Most importantly, we realize that these unique circumstances may present challenges or concerns about your research. Please know that we continue to be your creative, collaborative partner. We will work with you to customize a solution that delivers the insights you need.

As we have done for the last 20 years, we remain committed to your research success.

We are excited about opening and delivering insights that help you navigate your path forward.

Conducting Home Use Tests in the Era of Covid-19

June 2, 2020March 30, 2022Cindy Cluett

What do panelists think of participating in Home Use Tests and what’s the impact of providing ID online, facility pickup and curbside options? We surveyed 13,000 of our panelists to find out:

Home Use Test participation rate

Home Use Test with facility pick-up participation rate

Home Use Test with curbside facility pick-up participation rate

Home Use Test with age-ID requirements participation rate

Home Use Test - Location, Age, Gender influences

An Inside Look as We Execute a Home Use Test

May 12, 2020March 10, 2022Cindy Cluett

Are you wondering if you can successfully convert your Central Location Test to a Home Use Test? We thought a quick view of our HUTs in action might be helpful:

It’s true that product tests have their own unique complexities . . . However, we’ve successfully converted several CLTs to HUTs in the last two months, and we’ve conducted thousands of HUTs in our 20 years.

Please reach out to see if our Home Use Tests can be an insight solution for you.

Maximizing your Core Business during COVID-19

April 21, 2020March 30, 2022Cindy Cluett

As the ground shifts beneath our feet, it’s instinct to look for a firm place to hold onto. And for consumers, that safe place is the products and brands they rely on.

And so it makes sense that some of our clients have shifted focus a bit – putting innovation initiatives on hold and focusing on ensuring that their core business is in its best shape possible.

If that sounds like you, then here are ideas for research studies that can be conducted right now to maximize your core business:

Our world has changed, but we can give comfort to our consumer community by delivering consistency and satisfaction in our products and brands. Together, let’s make the best products!

Conducting Marketing & Sensory Research in a Time of Social Distancing

March 18, 2020March 30, 2022Cindy Cluett

Operations Update

We are operating as usual, although we are postponing all in-person research for the next few weeks as we await further information.

What MR Solutions are Available

While COVID-19 is new to all of us, conducting marketing and sensory research online, at home and via phone is not. In fact, we have a lot of experience doing it! Here’s how to get consumer insights in a time of social distancing:

Qualitative Solutions
Online qualitative solutions are efficient, affordable and insightful. And with so many people staying home, this is a good time to reach your consumers. We offer online focus groups, mobile ethnography, online discussion boards, and web-enabled in-depth interviews.

Quantitative Solutions
Home Use Tests deliver analytical insights while minimizing personal interactions. Our experienced team will recruit and field HUTs anywhere in the U.S.. And, we excel at designing online concept and packaging tests, too!

Sensory Solutions
Shelf-life studies, sensory snapshots and even discrimination testing can be conducted at home by our trained sensory panel. In fact, they have extensive experience working remotely as well as on-site. We conduct protocol and lexicon instruction via video and then ship product to panelists.

Help for Overworked Insights Teams
Our flexible, experienced team regularly works remotely, and our systems are built to securely support off-premise operations. We’ll help keep your research on track, even when everything seems so surreal. Examples include agile ad hoc research, meta analysis of older data and report writing.

Let us help you achieve your insights goals. Please reach out.

Be well.

Understanding Core & Category Consumer Impact of an Ingredient Change

March 5, 2020February 10, 2022Cindy Cluett

The Challenge
Can we reduce overall cheese content by 10% in our cracker product without negatively impacting consumer perception?

Our Approach
Test the current product against the test product with both medium and heavy brand consumers to determine if consumers equally accept the test product.

What We Learned
Heavy brand users were able to identify differences between the current and test products.

However, heavy brand consumers also purchase competitive product just as frequently. Since the proposed ingredient change resulted in a slightly less satisfactory product, if implemented, these flavor and texture differences present a risk to the franchise and may erode perceptions of the brand over time.

If this change has to be implemented due to productivity (cost of goods reduction), we recommend that our client enhance flavor and texture perceptions.

Click here for the full case study.

What We Do, at a Glance

February 13, 2020March 30, 2022Cindy Cluett

We get it. Digging through pages of website data is a hassle. So, here’s a quick view on what we offer. The gist – we’re a full-service marketing research agency, which means qualitative, quantitative and sensory research, and we do it all. . . anywhere your research takes you.

Case Study: Understanding Parent-Child Perceptions of a Snack Pack Product Line-Up

November 8, 2019March 1, 2022Cindy Cluett

The Challenge

Our client launched a Kid’s Pudding Pack line that did not perform as expected in market. Post-launch they wanted to understand consumer perceptions of the offering and product performance to help increase sales.

Parents evaluated the concept and observed their kids’ evaluation of the products to provide a balanced perspective in order to determine what optimizations could be made to enhance these products.

Our Objectives

Determine barriers to purchase among parents based on the concept.

Determine kids’ & parents’ overall reactions to the offering.

Gain a detailed taste evaluation from the kids.

Understand specific concept likes & dislikes and disconnects in the product experience.

What We Learned

Parents and kids liked the Pudding Pack concept with Very Vanilla and Super Strawberry as the top contenders.

Broken cookies are a problem, because it erodes perceptions of quality and diminishes perceptions of ease of use.

The product was considered portable and not too messy.

Click here for the full case study.

What’s in a name? Healthy versus wholesome.

September 30, 2019March 1, 2022Cindy Cluett

The Challenge

As marketers and market researchers, we know that words are pretty important. We have to understand what a word means to consumers and what they really want when they say that word. We explored this dichotomy as it relates to snacks in our Healthy versus Wholesome poster for The Society of Sensory Professionals.

Our Approach

Explore the differences and desired product attributes for healthy and wholesome snacks.

Phase 1: The Snack App
Consumers log their snacks for 24 hours and answer questions about their snacks.
We use the data to inform our lines of questioning and stimuli for focus groups.

Phase 2: The Focus Groups
Consumers complete pre-work assignments prior to meeting in the groups. Work includes journaling about snacks and uploading photos.
Consumers participate in different focus groups – one discusses the meaning of wholesome snacking, while the other discusses what healthy snacking is.

Insights to Action

While the occasions for healthy and wholesome snacks are the same, there are differences in the sensory attributes and emotional benefits of each. In developing a snack bite with “healthy” or “wholesome” positioning, Product Developers should focus on the prioritized sensory cues in order to create an aligned and satisfying experience.

Want more? (View the poster.)

Creating Differentiation in a Cluttered Category

July 21, 2019February 10, 2022Cindy Cluett

The Challenge

How should we talk about our new-to-the-world product offering in order to position it against other offerings in the dairy aisle?

Our Approach

Gather consumer-generated sensory language in a focus group setting to describe the product’s taste and texture attributes.

Explore usage occasions and comparison to products in adjacent categories.

Insights to Action

While the product was very well-liked, consumers were not likely to use it to replace their current product.

Positioning the product against other offerings in the dairy aisle was less appealing than calling out new usage occasions based on the taste and textural attributes.

Marketing was guided to develop a positioning around the most appealing attributes rather than pitting the product against current offerings.